The Romanian Experience. (original) (raw)

Romanias Second Democratic Transition

1. Romania needs a second democratic transition. The first one has built new institutions but not a cohesive society; favored force and hierarchical institutions not the representative ones, and last but not least placed too much emphasis on international drivers for change. 2. The debates on how to better develop the economy, how to distribute resources and responsibilities, how to develop the rural economy and society, on how to integrate a territory with severe disparities have been quieted and turned into debates on administration and corruption. A return to the socio-economic agenda of the citizen agenda is necessary. 3. There are worrying signs that there is an authoritarian drift in society and political system. If democracy is to last and be viable, Romania needs rebuilding its pluralistic and representative institutions. 4. Will Romania join the nationalistic, conservative, and Eurosceptic Eastern bloc or it will be able to maintain its open, inclusive and pro European perspective? The choice is still the second but it is increasingly contested. This is the reason we have to rethink what means to be “European”.

The perception of the West upon the Romanian transition after the Romanian Revolution from December 1989 . A historical perspective . The 1990 ’ s period

2018

This paper analyzes from a historical point of view the opinions of Western analysts and historians (but also Romanians especially within foreign papers) the Romanian Revolution and the Transition period from 1989 till 2000. Firstly we have studied the authors opinions pointing in some cases our opinion as well. In this paper we have used the narrative (showing the opinions and indirectly the events) but also the analytical method. We consider that in 1989 we are dealing with a revolution and that from 1990 till 2000 the Iliescu and Constantinescu regimes have assured a transition towards democracy, but a transition characterized by many problems. At the same time we have analyzed some economic problems and the geopolitical situation of Romania in the twentieth century.

Reckoning with the Communist Past in Romania: A Scorecard

During the first two decades following the collapse of the communist regime, Romania has reckoned with the human rights infringements perpetrated from 1945 to 1989 with the help of a range of official and unofficial, judiciary and non-judiciary, backward and forward looking methods pursued by a variety of state and non-state actors. This article summarizes the progress registered to date in court trials, lustration, access to secret files, property restitution, truth commission, rehabilitation of former political prisoners, compensations to victims and their descendants, opinion tribunal, exhumations, rewriting history books, unofficial truth projects, and memorialization.

Twenty-Five Years After: Romania and Its Uncertain Past

2014

In 1989 the Romanians took to the streets in Timisoara and later in Bucharest to protest against the communist regime and its heavy handed ruler, Nicolae Ceauşescu. Because of its violent nature, its structural conflict and results, this upheaval against Ceauşescu can be considered as one of the last European revolutions. At first the regime answered with repression, but it proved too weak to resist or even negotiate a peaceful transition once the unrest reached the capital Bucharest. From that duality two major narratives of the these events emerged: one which highlights the protests, their fortuitous character and decisive nature and the other the possible plots, conspiracies and interests leading to the fall of the regime. The first interpretation treats the events as a revolution, the latter as a coup d’état.